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Microsoft Intros Halo-Themed Mouse, Curiously Not For Gamers

By - Source: Microsoft | B 20 comments

On Friday, Microsoft introduced a limited edition of its Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 that features Halo's Master Chief. "This mouse gloriously features a highly detailed Master Chief in his two-tone green MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor and iconic gold hued visor," Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc said on the Windows blog.

Unfortunately, fans wanting to add this limited edition peripheral to their Halo collection will have to wait a few more months; more unfortunately (or perhaps just strangely), this is actually not a gaming mouse, which is surprising given the theme.

Instead, this peripheral only provides the standard two buttons and scroll wheel. If you're looking for something game-related, the company gladly suggests the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows, which costs a meaty $59.95. There's no Halo reference there, thoug; it's all black save for the four "ABXY" action buttons. Don't want to pay that much for a controller? Try a wired Rock Candy Xbox 360 gamepad sold at Walmart and other retailers.

Back to the Halo-themed Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500, though: It includes Microsoft's BlueTrack technology, which "combines the power of optical with the precision of laser" to allow the peripheral to work on nearly any surface, including your leg and maybe even shaggy carpet. The mouse also features a plug-and-go nano receiver that can be stowed away in the mouse when not needed. Microsoft even promises up to 8 months of battery life.

You can pre-purchase the device via GameStop. The company has the release date listed as October 6, 2014, just in time for pre-holiday sales. GameStop is also selling a refurbished Halo 3 Green Xbox 360 system with a wireless controller for $119.99, and a refurbished Halo Reach Xbox 360 console for $199.99--just in case you're looking for more Halo goodies.

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Top Comments
  • 18 Hide
    rad666 , August 1, 2014 2:38 PM
    This is exactly in line with Microsoft's continued commitment to PC gaming.

    A themed peripheral for a series that has little exposure on the platform, and as cheap a PoS as they can make it.
  • 17 Hide
    eklipz330 , August 1, 2014 3:01 PM
    i don't believe there is a bigger kick in the nuts to pc gamers than this....seriously, it's messed up. we haven't even seen a halo game since what, 2007? an entire 3 years after it was released on xbox? its been so damn long that theyre releasing a remake of the damn game. "OH, SORRY ABOUT THAT, BUT HERE'S A MOUSE WITH A STICKER ON IT!"

    assholes
  • 10 Hide
    apache_lives , August 1, 2014 11:42 PM
    i dont want a f**** halo mouse i just want the rest of the series on PC FFS
Other Comments
    Display all 20 comments.
  • 18 Hide
    rad666 , August 1, 2014 2:38 PM
    This is exactly in line with Microsoft's continued commitment to PC gaming.

    A themed peripheral for a series that has little exposure on the platform, and as cheap a PoS as they can make it.
  • 17 Hide
    eklipz330 , August 1, 2014 3:01 PM
    i don't believe there is a bigger kick in the nuts to pc gamers than this....seriously, it's messed up. we haven't even seen a halo game since what, 2007? an entire 3 years after it was released on xbox? its been so damn long that theyre releasing a remake of the damn game. "OH, SORRY ABOUT THAT, BUT HERE'S A MOUSE WITH A STICKER ON IT!"

    assholes
  • 8 Hide
    thefiend1 , August 1, 2014 3:08 PM
    Huge fan of Halo.... but that looks tacky as hell.
  • 4 Hide
    junkeymonkey , August 1, 2014 3:10 PM
    ''This is exactly in line with Microsoft's continued commitment to PC gaming.''

    scratch out gaming and just put everything... gets to where them folks don't seem to be part of this world and don't have a clue
  • 1 Hide
    tobalaz , August 1, 2014 10:10 PM
    Quote:
    This is exactly in line with Microsoft's continued commitment to PC gaming.

    A themed peripheral for a series that has little exposure on the platform, and as cheap a PoS as they can make it.

    Beat me to it.
  • 10 Hide
    apache_lives , August 1, 2014 11:42 PM
    i dont want a f**** halo mouse i just want the rest of the series on PC FFS
  • 3 Hide
    Haravikk , August 2, 2014 5:50 AM
    Quote:
    A themed peripheral for a series that has little exposure on the platform, and as cheap a PoS as they can make it.

    This is a pretty cheap stunt; unless they're planning to announce that the Master Chief collection will also be coming to PC (the port to XBox One after all means that most of the work is already done for this to happen), then it's insulting.
  • 1 Hide
    ykki , August 2, 2014 8:19 AM
    Coming in 2017 : still no halo game for pc but something entirely new : a halo themed keyboard
  • 1 Hide
    jessterman21 , August 2, 2014 9:01 AM
    Way to rub salt in the wound, M$
  • 2 Hide
    rohitbaran , August 2, 2014 9:34 AM
    Keep your mouse. No Halo 3 (and after) on PC? No business. So much for MS's commitment to PC gaming. Ugh.
  • 2 Hide
    TechyInAZ , August 2, 2014 9:40 AM
    That is what I call a purposeless mouse, why in the world would you put halo a video game as paint on a mouse that isn't even a gaming mouse.
  • -4 Hide
    I prefer light-weight mice with no extra buttons for my PC gaming. I'll be picking this up for sure.

    Tom's Hardware + these commenters: "QQ pls raise prise 2 $100 and add a button I can hit wit mai palm pls"
  • -1 Hide
    The Indomitable , August 3, 2014 1:33 AM
    Does not work on glass. Will not buy.
  • 0 Hide
    stevejnb , August 3, 2014 8:20 AM
    Pointless theme mouse for those who like Halo. Whatever - series has more or less been console centric anyways.

    Quote:
    i don't believe there is a bigger kick in the nuts to pc gamers than this....seriously, it's messed up. we haven't even seen a halo game since what, 2007? an entire 3 years after it was released on xbox? its been so damn long that theyre releasing a remake of the damn game. "OH, SORRY ABOUT THAT, BUT HERE'S A MOUSE WITH A STICKER ON IT!"

    assholes


    I don't know if you were actually following Halo since its initial reveal, back when it was a MAC game and made the cover of PC Gamer or some such, but if you actually listened to the PC community from about 2000 to now concerning the PC community, their general response to Halo and all things about it was "THIS GAME IS UTTER GARBAGE" and they proceeded to list off game after game, year after year, as to why they did not care about Halo in the slightest. The list includes every from Counterstrike to Return to Castle Wolfenstein to Tribes to Unreal and on and on and on... Simply put, my general experience with PC gamers - a group of which I am a part - is that if you ask them "are you interested in Halo?" they'll say "Nope - PC game X is better."

    Now forward to 2014 and we've got a PC gamer throwing a hissy-fit because he didn't get Halo... After hearing over a decade of PC gamers talk about what garbage the series is, I'm surprised anyone cares.

    My personal take on what I want MS to do with PC gaming? I don't care if they leave the charge - I want them to leave a nice open platform where PC game developers can do anything they want, from big projects like Spore to indie projects like Minecraft to creating services for PC game distribution like Steam. Go figure, *that* is precisely what MS has done - created the platform, made it so people could build whatever the heck they wanted on it, and basically focused on their console.

    What I've always wondered is, why do so many of you who are down on MS for not being more proactive in PC gaming actually want them to be? Doesn't it strike you as problematic for the company that makes and controls the platform has a big economic interest in their games succeeding on that platform? You go back to early consoles and you'll see examples of Nintendo doing things like keeping superior cartridge technology for their own games while other companies were stuck with more limited storage and you can see the fruits of a clear conflict of interests in this case (Steam OS supporters, think about it). Why is it that you people really want the same company that controls the OS to have tangible economic benefits for their games succeeding ahead of other people making games on that platform? Personally, I want my OS maker as far away from making games on their OS as possible - otherwise, they're a skip and a jump from stacking the OS deck in their game's favour, which one could argue MS already has done with DirectX. Do you really want them to have more incentive to do it more?

    No, in my eyes, an OS company that fosters an open environment for gaming but isn't heavily economically invested in their own games succeeding is an ideal status quo. That's what MS has done, for the most part, and PC gaming has thrived on their "do whatever the heck you want on our platform as long as you don't fiddle with its source code" environment.
  • 0 Hide
    atavax , August 3, 2014 9:45 PM
    makes perfect sense. So you have a peripheral for the non gaming PC market for people that game on xbox. It would make less sense to make a PC gaming peripheral with a IP that isn't available on PC.
  • 0 Hide
    jessterman21 , August 4, 2014 9:10 AM
    Quote:
    Now forward to 2014 and we've got a PC gamer throwing a hissy-fit because he didn't get Halo... After hearing over a decade of PC gamers talk about what garbage the series is, I'm surprised anyone cares.


    I'm a former consolite who skipped the X360/PS3 generation because the hardware and games got too expensive. I'm sure many other PC gamers were born in response to Steam sales and the surge of controller-friendly games in recent years. Now I get the best of both worlds - console-style games @ 60fps and HD+ resolutions, and I play shooters with K&M, most everything else with a controller.

    Bought my first video card to play Halo PC, because I am a huge fan of the games and books, and it is a blast to play with K&M. Now 343 is revamping the series for an x86 machine (easy port - I don't care what anyone says), and Microsoft continues to box-out PC gamers - even though half the Master Chief collection has already been ported to PC.
  • -3 Hide
    smeghead4269 , August 4, 2014 10:58 AM
    Quote:
    i don't believe there is a bigger kick in the nuts to pc gamers than this....seriously, it's messed up. we haven't even seen a halo game since what, 2007? an entire 3 years after it was released on xbox? its been so damn long that theyre releasing a remake of the damn game. "OH, SORRY ABOUT THAT, BUT HERE'S A MOUSE WITH A STICKER ON IT!"

    assholes

    Just because you stopped paying attention in 2007 doesn't mean they stopped making games. We got Halo: Reach in 2010 and Halo 4 in 2012. Try to keep up. ;) 
  • 1 Hide
    seshysama , August 4, 2014 6:20 PM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    i don't believe there is a bigger kick in the nuts to pc gamers than this....seriously, it's messed up. we haven't even seen a halo game since what, 2007? an entire 3 years after it was released on xbox? its been so damn long that theyre releasing a remake of the damn game. "OH, SORRY ABOUT THAT, BUT HERE'S A MOUSE WITH A STICKER ON IT!"

    assholes

    Just because you stopped paying attention in 2007 doesn't mean they stopped making games. We got Halo: Reach in 2010 and Halo 4 in 2012. Try to keep up. ;) 


    When he said "we haven't seen a halo game since 2007, he meant the PC community. Because this Tom's is a PC community. And this is a PC mouse. I know you're a console peasant, but try to keep up ;) 
  • 0 Hide
    stevejnb , August 4, 2014 6:50 PM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Quote:
    i don't believe there is a bigger kick in the nuts to pc gamers than this....seriously, it's messed up. we haven't even seen a halo game since what, 2007? an entire 3 years after it was released on xbox? its been so damn long that theyre releasing a remake of the damn game. "OH, SORRY ABOUT THAT, BUT HERE'S A MOUSE WITH A STICKER ON IT!"

    assholes

    Just because you stopped paying attention in 2007 doesn't mean they stopped making games. We got Halo: Reach in 2010 and Halo 4 in 2012. Try to keep up. ;) 


    When he said "we haven't seen a halo game since 2007, he meant the PC community. Because this Tom's is a PC community. And this is a PC mouse. I know you're a console peasant, but try to keep up ;) 


    Any reason for coming into a relatively civil thread with a belligerent troll job, or are you just a peach of a person? Way to show what PC gamers are all about.
  • 1 Hide
    dbaaz , August 5, 2014 11:16 AM
    "Curiously Not For Gamers"

    Similar to the way how Xbone is not for gamers and for people who want to watch TV?